Sorceress
by FreyaHamilton
Summary: They would never accept a Sorceress into Garden. But I held a similar goal, for different reasons: To bring down the sorceresses. Why? I wanted their power. What else would I want in this world? There was no future for the sorceress, but for the future of


Timber. They were headed to Timber.

I pushed myself up so I was resting on my knees rather than leaning on my hands and knees. Shaking hair out of my face, I glanced around me at the air vent I had so cleverly climbed in to so I could listen to Instructor Trepe as she spoke with Doctor Kadawaki about "Mr. Almassy"s disappearance. I'd been watching the teacher since the last SeeD exam, when I personally witnessed her destruction of a metal spider. I guess you could say I was fascinated. More people would be, than wouldn't. In all actuality, I was running on a hunch: Quistis Trepe would lead me to great things-- namely, the Sorceress Edea.

I was no SeeD. They would never accept a Sorceress into Garden. But I held a similar goal, for different reasons: To bring down the sorceresses. Why? I wanted their power. What else would I want in this world? There was no future for the sorceress, but for the future of the sorceress.

**Sorceress**

The train moved quickly under water and sky, it's destination the same as Instructor Trepes had been. Of course I hadn't been stupid enough to board the same one she was on, for fear of being caught too soon in the game, but I wasn't far behind her. This would be the last train coming in to the city, much to my pleasure, which meant that anyone that was in the city wasn't getting out.

I stared out the window at the passing scenery with cold blue eyes. Raven hair spilled undisturbed over my shoulders and neck to reach down to my narrow waist. My generous chest was worshipped by only the finest of black silk, draped and sewn over my shoulders and swaggering above where my rib cage ended. It was lined in midnight blue, and cut with a deep V neck that made way for the almost-glowing-sapphire pendant hanging from my small, pale neck. My legs were hidden only by an awkwardly short, black skirt-- A sorceress didn't need as great a range of motion as a fighter of any other type. For me, how attractive I was played a vital part in my every day life. I had payed for nothing in my life. A single glance was enough to take anything I wanted from a targetted man, and all others didn't dare approach me for fear of rejection.

"Ten minutes until Timber. Ten minutes until Timber."

Stepping away from the window, I let my hair fall behind me again, and I made my way toward the door of the train. A glare sent people scattering, and soon I stood undisturbed at the door, watching green grass and brown monsters pass through the glass.

"Move." I heard a female voice demand, and I smirked to myself. It always was the women to stand up to each other.

Fluidly I turned around to look her over, and my smirk grew with contentment. It was Fujjin, one of the few Garden women with half a brain, though to listen to her speak one would never guess. A follower of Seifer Almassy, she was doubtlessly tailing him. Her silver hair swagged over her eye, the other eye only protected by what appeared to be a samurai bandana. A simple blue shirt adorned her chest, and gray pants took residence over her legs.

"I'm sorry, have I seen you before?" I asked with almost mock politeness, my combat booted foot tapping away as I looked her over in the most disconcerting way I could-- it was something I was good at.

"No." The woman growled simply.

"Ah." My gaze slipped away from her to scan the rest of the train car. It was crowded today, not a private one as the one that I had just left was. I searched the figures for that of the idiot that followed this woman around.. Raijin, I think his name was. "I was certain we've met." I went on, "Where is that man that is always with you? The darkly skinned one."

"Now arriving at Timber."

I chuckled as the man I'd mentioned burst out of the mens bathroom to stumble his way through the crowd. In silence, I turned to leave them, only to stalk them from farther away, but to my surprise the woman stopped me with a call of, "Woman!"

Turning, I stepped out of the way of the people with the desire to pass me.

Raijin reached us, and looked me over suspiciously before glancing at Fujjin, and speaking for her. "Fuu wants to know how you know who we are, ya know." He stated, "We've never seen you before, ya know?"

"I'm sure you've seen me somewhere." I assured him impersonally, "I get around."

As I turned again to go, I felt a thin hand grip mercelessly around my arm, but I had no desire to be caught. Quickly, so she'd think she'd missed, I phazed my arm out of the trap, and vanished into the crowd.

Much to my dismay, Galbadian soldiers were everywhere. I didn't doubt that I could destroy one if they were stupid enough to approach me, but it didn't alleviate the hassle.

I heard from various people that there were people wandering around asking about the communications tower-- which was, of course, the same reason the Galbadians had occupied the city. With so much interest in a structure I knew that if I was going to find a sorceress of power, that was where I would find her. Naturally, that was where I headed.

I met with resistance on my way up, but it was nothing that I couldn't simply walk past-- the idiots believed me when I told them I was a Trabean Ambassador.

I was almost to the room they were housing Sorceress Edea in when the sound of gunshots rittled the air, and suddenly everyone was screaming intruder. Falling in to the shadows, I watched as Instructor Trepe chased her student up the stairs to the room Edea hid in. He shook the door, but found it locked, and ran instead to the room President Deling was doing something in, his white trench coat flaring behind him.

Curiousity begged me to follow the pair, but I overruled it with ease: My purpose here was the sorceress, not the president. I slipped out of the shadows and turned my attention on to the door. I tried the door nob myself, to make sure that Seifer hadn't been wrong, but found that it remained locked. With a sigh, I threw myself against the door and it buckled beneath the pressure.

The room was all but empty. A tarp lay across the unused stairs, and I could see nothing else but the woman standing there, warm, golden brown eyes fixed on me.

"I've been waiting." Sorceress Edea announced, tilting her head back ever so slightly. I looked over the woman of magnificence with less confidence than I was used to, or than I liked. She was older than me, and definately more powerful. Her nails were so long, sharp, and painted black with nail polish that was poisoned-- I had no doubt. Her eyes were cold, and warm at the same time. Her skin was the color of milk, and of no firmer a consistancy. She was everything I had ever wanted to be, and everything I had ever -wanted-.

"I know." I stated lowly, forcing myself to ignore her greatness. I took a step toward her, and was well aware of the world closing around me. There was nothing of a "Reality" in this room.

The sorceress looked me over, and I let her without resistance. I circled her, looking over her every detail. Every detail of the woman I craved, the power I craved. I reached out and touched the silk of the dress that fell flatteringly over her form. I felt her power press back against me, like a mother warning me not to go too far.

"Do you want me?" The woman purred.

Somewhere in time, people ran through the door. People with guns, and one with a gunblade. The ones with guns were dead in an instant-- I killed them before Seifer had even noticed them-- but the one with a gunblade, I couldn't touch. He stepped toward us.

More people invaded our space, and they were frozen in time before -I- could touch them. I stepped in front of the sorceress again, and looked into her inviting eyes with question for a moment. Why wouldn't she let me kill them?

She turned silently away from me, and to the man. She spoke silently in to his mind, and I hated the intimacy of it. The intimacy that I wanted.

No. No, I didn't want -her-.. I wanted her power...

I broke free of her spell in an breath shattering instant, and looked upon her with hatred. How dare she make me love her! How dare she confuse these feelings that I never had, that I avoided at all costs!

Seifer rose his black gunblade in a silent salute to her. In a pledge of allegiance.

I threw myself at her, hands out. I covered her face with my hands, and I heard Seifer collapse, free of the spell. I didn't care about him, I cared about the power. I felt the creature that was Sorceress Edea quiver beneath me as I stole the power from her. I took from her unmercifully. I took from her everything that Edea was.

And then I realized that what I stared at from behind the glass was not the sorceress Edea, but another sorceress that was within her. Another sorceress whos name I did not recognize. Sorceress Ultimecia.

With a great burst, I was thrown from her, tearing me from her with only the power of Edea-- a sliver of the woman before me. I hit the wall above the door, and slid down ungracefully to the floor. Pain tore through me as gravity tore me down, and soon, conciousness was gone from me.

Chapter One

The world faded in to my mind, and suddenly I realized that I wasn't in the room I had passed out in. Instead, I found myself in a bleak grey cell, my wrists and ankles locked to the table below me by iron clasps.

"Where the fuck am I?" I whispered, and turned my head in an attempt to take in everything. The room was painfully empty. There was a toilet in the corner of it, and a window above where I lay, and a door on the side of the compartment. "Is this... jail?"

"Yea," I heard the voice of a male, and I turned my head to stare in his direction. Seifer had appeared in the door way, his smooth black gunblade resting on his shoulder as he grinned at me. "I guess you could say that." He elaborated, and laughed, letting the weight of the weapon draw its tip to the floor.

I sent him a look, "Why the fuck am I in JAIL!" I demanded hotly. I'd never been held in jail before, especially with a man at the door! It occured to me that I was wearing a short skirt when I was awake, last, and checked to see if they had changed me-- seeing as I was chained to a table with my legs spread. They -had- changed me. I was in a simple pair of gray pants, and a simple gray, short sleeved shirt. My glare returned to him as he laughed hysterically.

"You tried to kill the sorceress!" He reminded me, and the memory sobered him, "And for that you must be punished."

I rolled my eyes at him, "So what are you going to do," I bit, "Rape me! It's a little late for that, wonderboy. Going to electrocude me! I thrive in pain. Kill me! By the gods-- PLEASE! I'm ASKING you to!"

A sadistic grin touched his lips, and I felt the chamber begin to move. "You'll be BEGGING me to by the time I'm done with you." He growled so lowly that I was actually almost afraid. My eyes hardened, and I glared at him. I didn't dare let him see my fear, what fear there was. As soon as the metal things were off of me, I would be out. He didn't look like he'd be hard to overpower, magically, although I did take in to consideration that I couldn't touch him before I'd taken Edea's powers. I hoped that little addition would help me greatly.

"Please." I retorted, and turned my head so I was looking at the ceiling, "Rebellious teenagers don't scare me. Sorry."

The landing of the craft shook the entire room, and what I had thought was a bed rose so it was vertical. The wall of the chamber fell out, and folded beneath it. The edge of the room was pushed against the floor of the level we were on. A gasp escaped me as the thing I hung off of slid across the room and in to the new one, and eventually to a new home against a wall in what seemed to be a simplistic torture room. All that was here was a switch, but judging by the wires that the galbadian soldier was hooking up to the clasps around my wrists, I had touched on what he planned on doing.

Damn, sorceresses had to be smart, didn't they! He hadn't had to cut me loose!

"Why are you doing this!" I questioned, going for a different route-- the voice of reason from the damsel in distress. I forced tears until I hung there, sobbing, "Because a woman asked you to a few hours ago! PLEASE don't do this! She's not worth it! Please..."

He lifted an eyebrow at me, but the laughter that I expected didn't come. "What happened to thriving in pain?" He challenged.

"I--" I choked out a sob to give me time to think of something to verify myself with, "I was trying to be strong. I didn't think you-- you were evil.. I didn't think this would be happening... Please, I still don't think you're evil! You're not a bad person inside! Get me out-- please!"

He opened his mouth to respond with some wise ass comment, but a soldier came out of seemingly no where to speak with him. "Sir Almassy!" He cried formally, snapping his heels together in attention, "The sorceress Edea is ready for the parade! Your presense is required on the float!"

The blonde nodded, and dismissed the soldier, just standing there with a grin before he turned his attention to me again. "You got lucky." He sneered, and glanced at the soldier that had hooked the wires in to the device I was trapped in, "Put her back in her cell. I'll attend to her after the parade."

I watched as he turned, and strolled off through the door the second soldier had come through, so arrogantly. I made a mental note to kill him as soon as possible.

As soon as he was gone, the first soldier started unplugging the wires.

"Hey, why do you let him talk to you like that?" I cooed, but it was no use. The soldier only did what he was told. He was most likely brainwashed.

Time passed again, though I didn't know how much of it. I found myself jolted to life by the sound of the door sliding open. I turned my head, eyes narrowing to clear the fog of sleep as I took in the sillouette of a man, with what appeared to be a trench coat that hid the rest of his shape with the shadow.

"Who is--"

"Shut up." The man hissed. It was Seifer. I recognized his voice. He walked in to the cell, and flipped a switch that turned on the overhead light, blinding me with it for a moment before my eyes managed to adjust.

He looked like hell. His hair had flattened, and his eyes were dull. There was blood dripping off of his black leather gloves, and spattered over his once pale gray coat.

"What's happening?" He demanded quietly, glaring at me, and pulling the door closed. I knew it was an electrically powered door. Why had he done it manually?

I stared at him. "...I don't know what you mean."

"Two of my officers were coming down here," He stated, his voice quivering, "By Edea's orders; to execute you. I..." I saw him hesitate, frightened, and then he pulled the door back open, just a sliver. There, lying on the floor, were the corpses of two low rank Galbadian soldiers, their blue uniforms darkened by blood. It looked as if one of their throats had been torn out, and the other had been punched in the stomach... a punch that had gone all the way through.

I was speachless. What was I supposed to tell him? That he'd acted completely of his own, and that I had nothing to do with it? Or that I had been controlling him? Both of them were most likely lies.

"What's," he growled, "Happening to me!"

"...Well..." I tried despirately to think of an excuse for him to act beyond his own thinking to protect me. His prisoner. My mind shot back to the past day or so. I had been following him, and Instructor Trepe around garden. I had gotten on the train, and met two of his friends. I had found my way to Sorceress Edea. Took her power--

"Who's knight are you?" I asked hesitantly.

He sent me a deathglare. "Edea's!"

I sighed heavily, and turned back to stare at the ceiling. "...Not anymore." I grumbled, and sent him a hesitant glance. "I took her power. That means you are tied to me."

Neither of us seemed happy about it. Seifer's gunblade materialized in his hand, triggered by panic, but he dropped it with his jaw.

I could see no reason to miss the chance to turn this to my favor. "And you just killed two soldiers." I informed him, "You'll need to get out of here before Ultimecia sticks YOU in one of these cells."

He glared, hard at me for a moment as his gunblade vanished. "...Ultimecia?" He repeated dryly.

"I don't know her real name." I stated, "But there's a sorceress inside of your.. Edea now. She seems to be the Ultimate sorceress, so I will call her Ultimecia-- but that doesn't matter. Get me out of this," I moved my wrists a little, "And we can get out of here together."

"..." He glared at the metal around my wrists, deep in thought.

"I won't try to sell you that it'll be your dream." I continued to persuade, "But would you rather spend your life with me, or alone in a cell?"

His gaze drifted to mine for a moment. "...why should I believe you at all?"

"Because you have no better understanding."

Growling, he turned to the wall, and pushed a button. Instantly my hands were free.

I sat up, and rubbed at my wrists for a moment, before glancing out the door. "How do we get out of here?" I asked, gaze flickering to him for a moment.

"This way." He grumbled, and turned, stalking off out of the cell. I followed close behind.

Chapter Two


End file.
